Having too Much Fun

Today is day four of the SDM business trip. It has been so great to see everybody again. It's going to be sad when everybody has to go home. Maybe we can convince them all to stay...I mean, it hasn't snowed here for 8 days now!

i'm back!

sorry for the lack of communication. Blogger.com has been having some issues.

I'm up to ten pages finally =)

Six Pages

Six pages! We have started on the sixth page! yay!

Down with Homework!

I have been trying to write my innovation in marketing paper all day. I reached page five with no problem, but can't seem to get past there. I don't think I learned ten pages' worth of material in that class. Neither going for a walk nor eating ice cream has not helped the thought process, so I am now officially out of ideas.

Yesterday was tough. It was hard to be back in Boston away from so many friends. Luckily, I got to see my parents and pick up Scully early in the morning, then returned home to sulk all day. Then Eve called and told me there was a cheerleading competition on ESPN. I immediately turned on the television as my world suddently brightened. Nothing in this universe is funnier than commentators during cheerleading competitions. Some peach comments included, "Woah," "Wow," and "Oh wow!" The commentators pointed out that each routine had an innovative (ah, crap, just remembered I still have to write my paper) beginning. Hilarity ensued.

Then watched the games. Bummer about West Virginia! Okay, no more procrastinating for me.

Back to Bahstin

At the Atlanta airport now after an already exciting day. I woke up, sat with Kellie, Allen and Payton for a while, then took off for home. I made a brief stop at the outlets, then continued on to the Pensacola airport which is about an hour-and-a-half from Destin. (By the way, there's someone having a long conversation on the payphone next to me. Who does that anymore???) There is a little redneck bar in Destin that has the world's most incredible gumbo. I planned to stop there, grab a gallon, and continue on my way.

I quickly realized I would be stuck in beach traffic, so decided against my stop. Then I saw the sign and turned in anyway. Being the bar that it is, they didn't have any containers for gumbo to go, so I had to settle for just a bowl to go in styrofoam and a flimsy top.

I got back on 98 and tried to will the traffic to move faster. Unfortunately, there was a state trooper among us, so everybody was crawling. In a few quick ilana-patented moves, I got around the cop at a light and managed to leave the slow folk behind. I still got to Pensacola with moments to spare. I jumped on the plane, settled down, and went to enjoy the gumbo that had delayed me for half an hour. You guessed it...it had spilled all over. I still had half a bowl left, so I was happy, but much of the plane smelled like gumbo.

Upon arriving in Atlanta for my three-hour layover, I immediately headed over to the Red Brick bar even though it was three terminals over. The bartender smiled and asked me how Savannah had been. It's great to make an impression sometimes. =) (positive? Negative? Who knows!)

My friend Grant in Atlanta is having friends over to play poker tonight. I am very tempted to ditch out of here and go join 'em. They need to board this flight soon!!!

Massages, Beaches, Shopping, Eating, Gossipping

Kellie and I decided to have a girly-girl day today. We woke up, ate Cocoa Pebbles, then went for massages. After that, we picked up Paty and headed for the beach. It was a gorgeous day, and we sat and talked in the sun for a few hours. Payton is an absolute joy, and gets lots of smiles from everybody she sees.

Oh, and typical Kellie and Ilana--we had Dortitos for lunch.

We then picked up Allen and went to Billy's Bayou for dinner. So yum...

Then back home for some American Idol and gossip.

Ah...Life in Destin is Good

I woke up very refreshed. So nice to know I'll be in one place for more than a night.

I headed to the beach for a walk while Kellie took Payton for a checkup. We met at Pampano Joe's for lunch. Kellie and I enjoyed some Pina Coladas and grouper sandwiches after an appetizer of seafood nachos.

Then to the outlets for shopping and home. For dinner, we had Thai becasue the dang spring breakers had taken over all of the seafood spots.

Drivin' through 'bama

Ah drove me through Alabama t'day! Woke up at Suzanne's, had some breakfast, got a haircut, then hit the road in a torrential downpour. I almost turned back when I couldn't see five feet in front of my car but persevered. The weather improved and it was smooth sailing til Desting.

Kellie and I ordered in pizza and talked. Allen was out showing Paty off to some relatives. I met her for the first time when they got home...she is just as gorgeous as expected. What a cutie!

Back in the ATL

Got my rental car then hit Ulta, the ultimate girl store. Spent way too much money, then met Rob for lunch at Neuvo Laredo. Yumyumyum! From there, we went to his house to pick up an FM transmitter so I could listen to my iPod on my way through Alabama (NOT a place you want to be without tunes), then drove up to Suzanne's. It was so nice to see Suzanne. She and her family are like a second family away from home. Rachel keeps getting more mature and prettier, and Matthew is more handsome and getting ready to apply to schools! Of course Dartmouth is high on his list. I'm tellin' ya...the kid's wicked smaht!!!

Suzanne, Rachel, and I went food shopping after a brief stop to meet up with Bert, Suzanne's man. We brought the food home where Suzanne and Rachel cooked it, and I cheered them on. Good cooking! Yay!

Everyone 

Da Girlz

Savannah 

Da boyz 

Bein-YAY

Today we woke up, gathered 11 out of 16 of the crew, and went to Huey's for, as Grant put it, bein-YAYs. After breakfast, six of us headed for the Tybee Island, a beach about 20 minutes from Savannah. As soon as we arrived at the beach, Dan, Tracey, Patti, Grant, Randy/Dave/Ghost, and I saw several dolphins. They were swimming about twenty yards out, diving and jumping a little. It was awesome.

We sat on a blanket and talked most of the day, playing the new drinking game known as "football." This game was inspired by a hapless trio of teenagers who were throwing a football around, but neglecting to catch it. One of them was covered in red splotches where the ball had hit his chest and bounced off. So whenever one of them caught the ball, dropped the ball, or whenever we were bored, we drank to football.

We then went for a delicious lunch of crab stew, shrimp quesadillas, and grouper. Then back to the hotel to gather the troops and hit the town.

The aftermath 

Back with my Friends...YAY!

It feels so good to be back with the crew. We went to the riverfront last night, and had several beers. I had a corn dog for dinner and a steak and cheese for my second dinner. Everybody was wandering around, drinking in the street, which was just packed.

This group wants to do nothing but have fun. Love 'em. I'll try to take pictures to upload later.

Love the south

I arrived in Atlanta at 5:05 as scheduled, and tried to fly standby for a 6:30 flight instead of my 7:30. They were overbooked by 13 people, so I gave up and headed to the Red Brick Brewery bar. For those that don't know, the Red Brick Brewery was located four blocks down and one over from my condo in Atlanta.

This was the exact same bar where I met Sharleene (in the middle). Long story short: Sharleene and I were both trying to fly standby to New York City. We ended up at the bar, drinking, checking the gates every hour for each flight. We eventually were rejected from three straight standbys, so got into line for my flight, an hour before hers. The gate cops went through my bags while she was yelling at the gate agent for not being on the standby list. When I got to the head of the line, the gate guard lady wouldn't let me in. When I asked why, she said, "This flight is going to TAMPA." Moral of story: Red Brick Brewery has kickass beer. And Sharleene is still one of my close friends =)

So anyway, I end up there today. I ordered my favorite, the ale, and the man next to me starts talking to me. He was from Mississippi, went to Mississippi State, and was on his way to Tampa (ironically enough) to go hunting with some of his friends. We talked for about an hour, with him showing me pictures of his wife and "kids" (two labradors), and me showing him pictures of my kid (scully) and my arch-nemisis (snow). I loved his accent, his attitude, and the endless string of Southern-boy compliments.

He left, and another guy sat down. Before long, the whole bar was all talking. It was way too much fun.

Later that day...
Ahem..my blogging was rudely interrupted by my flight taking off. Like having this computer on is going to bring down the whole damn plane. Anyway, the bad thing about spending a layover at a bar is the resulting bathroom trips once in flight. I went once when I got on, but as soon as they turned off the Fasten Seat Belt sign, I was ready to go again. Needless to say, the couple next to me (I'm at the window) HATES me.

Welcome, Jamaal

As I was waiting to get through security at Logan's newest terminal, terminal A, a man behind me asked about the SDM program at MIT. It was Jamaal off to see his girlfriend Krystal in New York city. He is attending Harvard grad school for psychology after graduating from Princeton with a degree in Engineering (I'd boldface those schools, but they're not as cool as MIT so therefore do not deserve the proper noun treatment.

Jamaal and I enjoyed a delicious, overpriced meal at Legal Test Kitchen, Legal Seafood's lest seafood-y spinoff. It was very good. And great company! Jamaal happened to bring up that he played pickup hoops, so I invited him to one of our Wednesday basketball outings. Perhaps he'll get a bunch of Harvard folks, and we can settle this whole Harvard-MIT thing once and for all.

The crew at Cask and Flagon, post-Aquarium to Fenway bar crawl, pre-game. 

Savannah Tomorrow

I am so excited...I am going to Savannah tomorrow to meet up with my friends (pictured above). This is the crew that surprised me in Boston last year. They are such a fun group of people.

So now it looks like
Savannah Fri-Sun
Atlanta Sun-Tue
Destin Tue-Fri

I'll try to blog during the trip to keep you posted.

Warren Tavern...YAY

Last night I went to the Tavern (for a change) with Lois, a very cool, single recent addition to Boston (we've found another one, Elizabeth! Our ranks are growing!)

Once again, our bartender treated us right...we had four drinks for the price of one. There was a guy who looked like one of the bagpipers who were there last year for St Patty's day. Fortunately, as soon as he started talking I could tell he wasn't Irish, so I didn't have to ask him if he was a bagpiper. In retrospect, his reaction to such a question would have been entertaining.

As soon as I got home, Andrew and Dave called to let me know they were just heading over. Ah, the revolving door of the Warren Tavern. Always a pleasure.

Proud to be a Sigma Delta Alumna Today

This is one of my sorority sisters (we even pledged together which means we're, like, practically, like, real sisters!). She is definitely using the economics major she earned at Dartmouth, though perhaps not the math as much.... Check it out

This woman is absolutely brilliant (I believe she got 1600 on her SATs), and I wish her luck in her new endeavors. At least we figured out why no one had heard from her for a while. Although she looked exactly the same in college, apparently she has been very busy "losing weight." Go Kerry!!!

ERBA Does not Help in Fantasy Baseball

I had the first of two fantasy baseball drafts last night. I figured I could use some kind of probability formula to combine Yahoo's O-rating plus the general rating. I ended up with such luminaries as Roger Clemens, Adrian Beltre, and Moises Alou. Apparently, probability favors old people. Oh well.

Here is my haiku for the day:

Dirty heaps of snow
Why won't you just go away?
If you don't, I will.

Sad Day: Sending Love and Prayers to Dee and Greg

Greg called me at work today to tell me they had lost their baby four days before labor was to be induced, and the sadness in his voice was utterly, indescribably heart-breaking. Not only did they lose their baby, but there may have been malpractice involved, so they are going to have to fight a legal battle while trying to recover emotionally.

These are two of the kindest, gentlest people you will meet, and they deserve nothing but the best. I really don't know what else to write, except to ask those of you that know them and may be physically closer to them than I am up here in Boston, please support them as you can.

The funeral will be in Mobile, date to be determined by the autopsy. I'll be in Atlanta starting on Saturday and will go if it is at all possible.

Buh Bye, World Gym Somerville

This week is my last at my current non-MIT gym. I can't say I'm going to miss it much. I joined this gym immediately after moving to Charlestown. It was the closest to home, on my way to work, and had an excellent assortment of equipment.

Rant warning! I'm about to rant so if you don't want to hear it, just wait until tomorow's post in which I promise no ranting.

I showed up the first day the same way I would for the gym I went to in Atlanta: cute little sports bra, cute little spandex, cute little socks, tan. This was the basic uniform for young women in Atlanta.

Unfortunately, the guys in the gym weren't used to the "Atlanta look" and literally stared non-stop. I figured maybe it was because I was new, so wore the same type of outfit the next day. It was so icky my skin practically crawled off my body. So I switched to tank tops and baggy pants.

There is seriously no need for staring at a gym. Glance once in a while, fine, but don't stare. In addition, within my first month there, a man had asked me out mid-repetition. I was literally half-way up in a crunch when he asked me. (I declined, and subsequently stopped talking to anybody in the gym.) Another time one hissed at me as I walked by. My closest friend at the gym was a bartender in a strip joint. Not the classiest of clientele at the good ol' World Gym.

Thursday will be my last day there, so I will continue my rant then =D

ERBA= Exams Really Bite Ass

Just got out of the ERBA exam. BLECH. It was comprised of three questions, decreasing in difficulty/impossibility from 1 - 3. After doing the post-exam, confidence-shattering exchange of answers, I realized that most everybody had difficulty with the exam. Of course, I was seated next to Yoav, who, upon reading the first question said, "Yeah!" under his breath. (Yoav, if you're reading, know that I am scratching my nose with a specific finger right now.)

This is the first question: "The daily concentration of a certain pollutant in a stream has an exponential distribution with mean value 2 mg/10^3 liter. Suppose that the unacceptable pollution level is 6 mg/10^3 liter. What is the probability that pollution will be unacceptable in a single day?" Okay, if your name isn't Yoav, P-Wheel, Spriros, Matt, or John Wang and you know how to do this, let me know and I'll buy you a beer.

Dude! My Dad is Blogging!

Okay, I take back whatever I said about my parents being even remotely old-fashioned. My dad saw my blog and decided to create his own! Check it out!

(That plus we got him DSL for birthday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, Kwanzaa, etc.) =D

My dad, 59 years young, with Eve and me. 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's my dad's birthday today...the big 5-9. Except for the fact that they refuse to get a DSL or cable connection, my parents are pretty young people. They both love sports and have very quick senses of humor. It's very appropriate that my dad was born in March, considering that he lives for March Madness. Growing up, March meant coming home from school then watching basketball and eating sunflower seeds all evening with my parents and sister. It was a good life =) Happy birthday, Dad!

First Entry

I finally set up my own blog. Woohoo! I guess the combination of an English degree and a career in software engineering should have guaranteed I already had one....but I didn't until now! I decided to set one up so I could talk about my career, going back to school, the Sox, the Pats...whatever. Like every other blogger out there, I guess I feel I just have insight to share. (Yeah, right)

I'll start with this: ERBA sucks. I'm in on a Saturday night studying. I haven't done this since finals period at Dartmouth (which was always on a weekend for some ungodly reason). Studying has been so thrilling that I have procrastinated to the point where I had nothing better to do than create a blog.

Thanks to Yoav, Matti, Sam, and Robbie for all having such good blogs that I decided to jump in myself.